


We think too much and feel too little

by PrettyCalypso



Series: Prompts [3]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: First Kiss, First Meetings, High School AU, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, sort of best friend AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 06:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6942889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrettyCalypso/pseuds/PrettyCalypso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on this prompt:<br/>“High school. Mickey has a rich and united family. He is the most popular guy, quarterback, great votes, top of the class, everyone wants to be his friends and most guys wants him as boyfriend. Ian has a messed-up family, nerd, bullied and has a crush for Mickey. Mickey finds Ian while he cries in the bathroom because someone have made a bad joke about him, they become best friends then lovers.”</p><p>(I didn't stick to the prompt completely, but it's more or less the gist of it)</p>
            </blockquote>





	We think too much and feel too little

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what happened here. It was supposed to be a short prompt-filler and it ended up being... that. I just couldn't stop writing! I hope you like it...

 

In movies, the shy girl with good grades and absolutely no popularity takes off her glasses, suddenly becoming beautiful, and dates the school's quarterback for whom she had a crush from the very beginning. Real life isn't that easy.

 

________________

 

Ian Gallagher wasn't especially shy, nor did he have good grades, or glasses to take off. He lived in the South Side of Chicago, in a house with termites, mold, run down paint, foundation cracks, traces of blood, worked floorboards, water damage, missing copper pipes and plumbing fixtures, rodent infestation, shady electrical work, ancient furnace, holes in the walls, major roof issues, and in which the toilets would back up once a month and the pipes would freeze in the winter. Yes, the place was a dump, and his family was a mess. His mother was drug-addict bipolar runaway, probably off somewhere shacking up with a teenage meth dealer, and his father – who wasn't actually his father, but at this point who cares? – was a drunk coming back home only to take money from his kids or to cash out checks for his fake disability claims. Ian was gratefully he had his siblings, even though life was tough, and Fiona, as a high-school drop out, couldn't keep a steady job for the life of her; Lip spent more time sleeping with the neighborhood girls and taking the SATs for other students than anything else; and Carl was a future criminal. Debbie was okay, responsible enough for a 12-year-old, she just scammed people into giving money for different charities or noble causes – money that she kept in her doll house until her family really needed it; and Liam was... well Liam was 2 years old so...

 

And at school things weren't going so much better. Except for English, Ian was an average student, he didn't have the good grades Lip had without even working, and it wasn't rare that he got beaten up by guys mad at his older brother, or just by random bullies. The only thing close to a movie-like storyline Ian had in his life, was his enormous one-sided crush for the school quarterback. Yes, he was living that cliché.

 

“Earth to Moon, are you listening to me?”

 

Ian detached his eyes from the football field where the team was training to meet his brother's judgmental stare.

 

“You're still pining for the guy? He's not even that hot!”

 

“How would you know?”

 

Lip shook his head.

 

“It's not because I prefer boobs over dick that I can't tell when a guy is hot.”

 

“A guy doesn't have to have perfect abs or look like an Abercrombie model to be hot.”

 

“Can we not have this conversation right now? I'm not discussing with my gay little brother about what makes a guy hot. Not happening.”

 

Ian hinted his first smile of the morning.

 

“Okay, Lip, what did you want to tell me that was so important you had to tear me away from my daydreaming?”

 

“I was asking if you could be home after school tonight. Fiona's working, and I'm meeting Karen.”

 

“Again?”

 

“Hey, the girl is hot, she's a great lay, and she wants me again, I won't say no.”

 

“You sure it's not you who always comes back to her because you have a crush?”

 

“Look who's talking!”

 

“Except I'm not sleeping with the guy.”

 

“Yeah, because he's straight and doesn't even know you exist!”

 

Ian sighed, and his eyes went back to the football field.

 

“True...”

 

________________

 

Mickey Milkovich was lucky. He knew he was. He was lucky because he hadn't been raised by his birth parents. He was lucky because he had grown up in a good part of town, in a nice house, with great people. He was lucky because he knew his life could have been at least ten times worst than it was. His mother died when he was about six years old, and his father went on a crazy bender, leading him to do some more illegal stuff than usual, and sentenced to a very long life in prison. Mickey and his siblings were then picked up by DCFS; his two older brothers were placed in a group home, Iggy ended up in a foster home already filled with a million other kids, and Mandy and Mickey were both took in by a very nice couple who couldn't have children. Charles and Katie were good parents, and not even a year after Mickey and Mandy had arrived in their house, they adopted them legally. And the two siblings lived happily ever after... Or something like that. They did grew up happy far away from the Milkovich house of horrors, and they even managed to keep seeing Iggy regularly. Mandy did good in school, Mickey a little less good – except in maths – but made up for his medium grades by achieving what his coach called “athletics greatness”, and became quarterback of his high school football team in sophomore year. Now he was almost done with high school, just six more months to go, and was more than ready to fly off in some great university on a football scholarship. Because there was still something Mickey didn't feel so lucky about, and that was his sexuality. He realized he was gay when he was about twelve years old, but that was also the moment he learned that liking guys wasn't compatible with being a star athlete, no matter where you lived, or how welcome to your sexuality your parents were, being a gay quarterback wasn't an option in a public high school in Chicago. So Mickey was looking forward to college, and hopefully its more open politics.

 

“Hey Mickey!” Stacy singsonged as she leaned against the locker next to his.

 

The girl was cute, in a head of the cheerleaders kind of way, and was more than obviously interested in Mickey. Yes, he was living that cliché.

 

“Hi Stacy.”

 

“You played so well today. You think we're gonna win the game on Saturday?”

 

“I hope so.”

 

“If we do, I'll have a big party at my house that night. And even if we don't, I'll have the party anyway. You're coming right?”

 

Mickey smiled.

 

“Sure. Can I bring Mandy?”

 

His sister loved parties, and even if the jocks and cheerleaders weren't really her squad, she'd be happy to come and mingle. Stacy smiled with her too-white teeth, and shook her blond locks, before talking in that high-pitched fake voice of hers.

 

“Of course. I love your sister!”

 

Mickey closed his locker and started to walk away.

 

“Great. See you later!”

 

The girl waved her long fingers at him.

 

“See you later Mickey!”

 

Stacy wasn't too bad, she wasn't a mean girl like you see in the movies, she was just extremely superficial and without a lot of layers – that Mickey had seen of at least. The boy didn't mind hanging out with her, but he was getting anxious one day she'll try to actually get in his pants, and he'd have to push her away without revealing himself – because if there was one thing he was certain of, it was that Stacy LOVED to gossip, and wouldn't hesitate to tell his big secret to the entire school.

 

________________

 

Ian knew he couldn't have Mickey, but there were other cute guys in the school he was pretty sure were playing for the same team. His first time had been with Roger “Donkey Dick” Spikey. He wasn't bad, but he transferred school not too long after their _'encounter'_ , and Ian wasn't sure if he was thankful for it, or slightly disappointed to loose a convenient lay. Since then, he had had an affair with his married boss, but that ended pretty quickly after his wife found out about it, and Ian was, luckily, not fired. So, when Benjamin Schaffer, Ian's decent looking lab partner, invited him to a party on Saturday, the redhead didn't hesitate before saying yes, and already started to imagine the guy might be wanting more than just friendship.

 

“I'm pretty sure he's straight.” Lip said from where he was lying on his bunk bed, looking down at his brother getting ready for his not-really-a-date party.

 

“Have you ever seen him with a girl?”

 

“No. But that doesn't mean anything.”

 

“Well he did invite me, so even if it's just as friends, I'm gonna enjoy the party and have a good time.”

 

“What kind of party is it anyway?”

 

“Some gathering at a girl's house to celebrate the game, I think she's a cheerleader or something.”

 

Hearing that, Lip jumped from the bed.

 

“Can I come? Cheerleaders are hot! And horny!”

 

“Invitations only. Sorry.”

 

“Wait, you said a game celebration, right? So does this mean your quarterback's gonna be there?”

 

Ian shrugged and tried not to blush. He could lie and say and hadn't thought about that, but the truth was, it was the first thing that had came to his mind when Benjamin had talked about the party.

 

“Don't know... Maybe...”

 

“Are you gonna go for it? Or are you gonna stay with your maybe-gay very dull lab partner?”

 

“He's not even interested in guys!”

 

“Well... We've never seen _him_ with a girl either...”

 

The redhead rolled his eyes, and walked away from the room he shared with his brothers.

 

“Oh fuck off Lip!” he threw above his shoulder.

 

“You should bring rubbers, just in case!” the older Gallagher shouted back.

 

________________

 

Mandy had ditched her brother as soon as they had walked in, going dancing with some random people. And now Mickey was left to fend for himself, standing awkwardly with his red cup in the middle of people he more or less liked, exchanging a few words with his teammates, and avoiding Stacy at all costs.

 

He had just finished his third drink of the night when he saw the blond girl walking straight toward him. Instead of running away, he chose to go to her. She smiled too brightly when she saw him approaching.

 

“Hey Mickey, where were you? Haven't seen you all night!”

 

“Just around. I was actually looking for the bathroom.”

 

Her face fell just slightly, and she pointed at a door behind them.

 

“It's there. Come back to me afterward!”

 

Mickey was already a few steps away from her.

 

“Yeah, sure.”

 

He pushed the door open, releasing a breath, happy to have escaped the girl one more time, and collided with another body.

 

“Oh fuck, sorry! The door was unlocked.”

 

“It's okay.” the other boy shrugged.

 

He raised his head, meeting Mickey's eyes, and looked back at the floor quickly, but not quickly enough that Mickey didn't notice his swollen eyes and red cheeks.

 

“Are you crying?”

 

“No.”

 

“Oh so it's just been raining on your face, huh?”

 

The boy blushed some more, his face becoming as red as his hair. Mickey closed the door properly this time, with the lock and all, and took a tentative step toward the boy. He wasn't sure why he was doing that, he wasn't usually one to help or comfort others, but he actually felt pity for the kid.

 

“What's wrong?”

 

The redhead shrugged again.

 

“Nothing.”

 

“You're crying in the bathroom at a party, something definitely isn't right. Did a girl rejected you or something?”

 

Mickey thought he saw a small smile on the kid's face.

 

“Not really, no.”

 

“So what is it? Come on Gallagher, tell me.”

 

The boy raised his head again, faster this time, and didn't look away from Mickey.

 

“You know my name?”

 

Mickey nodded.

 

“Yeah, you're from that family with all the kids and no parents. Your brother, Lip, is in some of my classes. Smart asshole.”

 

That was all true, but what Mickey wasn't saying was that it had actually noticed the redhead at the beginning of the year. Before the holidays he had been that scrawny kid with too many freckles and hair falling in front of his face, but he had bulked up during summer and had came back to school as a pretty hot young man, hot enough to attract Mickey's eyes.

 

“Lip really is a smart asshole.” the boy laughed.

 

Mickey, happy to have been able to do that, laughed too.

 

“Okay, so now that we have established who your brother is, you really not gonna tell what happened?”

 

The redhead seemed to hesitate.

 

“I don't think it's a good idea.”

 

“Why? You think I'm gonna beat you up or something?”

 

The boy made a face.

 

“Seriously? You really think I would beat you up for whatever shit made you cry?”

 

“It's just... It's not something I go screaming around, especially in my neighborhood...”

 

Mickey nodded. To be honest, he was starting to have a little idea of what the redhead was talking about, but he didn't want to make any assumption, and he really didn't want to be disappointed if he was wrong. The kid looked back down at the floor, tracing the outlines of the marble stones with his foot.

 

“I made a mistake.” he finally said after a minute or so of silence. “I assumed someone was asking me out, but it turned out they weren't. And when I tried to kiss them... they punched me. I'm not usually one to go crying for that but I think I'm kind of tired of... all that...”

 

Mickey took another step forward and finally noticed the bruise forming on the side of the redhead's face he couldn't see until now.

 

“Who punched you?”

 

“Nobody. It's not important.”

 

“Gallagher. Tell me his name.”

 

The kid met Mickey's eyes once again.

 

“You don't have to do that.”

 

________________

 

Benjamin Schaffer was a dead man. Mickey was very well aware he might be outing himself by doing that, but he was unreasonably angry, and wanted one thing and only one: teach this Benjamin son of a bitch a lesson. He wasn't one to get into fights too often, but he had a temper, and Iggy had taught him from a young age to use his fists. Mickey barged into the living room where Benjamin Schaffer was flirting with some girl, and just went to punch him. No words, no explanation, just Mickey's fist colliding with the other teenager's nose. The girl screamed, Benjamin held his bloody nose, and Mickey smirked.

 

“What the hell did you do that for?”

 

“Showing you what happens to homophobic pricks!”

 

And with that Mickey was gone. Drop the mic. He exited the house and lit a cigarette – which he wasn't suppose to smoke because it could play with his breathing and endurance on the field, but whatever.

 

“Why did you do it?” a voice asked behind him.

 

Mickey turned around to see the redhead walking toward him.

 

“The guy was an asshole, not worth wasting your tears for.”

 

“I get that. But you didn't have to get involve. Now everybody's gonna be talking about you, assuming stuff...”

 

“They can assume all the shit they want, as long as I don't loose my place in the team I'm good.”

 

“Well thank you.” the kid smiled.

 

“No problem Gallagher!”

 

________________

 

Ian wore this stupid lovesick smile all night after that, and all day on Sunday. Until Lip noticed and called him out on it.

 

“Did you get laid or something?”

 

“No. Why?”

 

“You're smiling like an idiot.”

 

“I'm just happy, can't I be happy?”

 

“Not in this neighborhood, no.”

 

Ian rolled his eyes, and took the joint his brother was handing him.

 

“Come on, what happened at the party? Did _'Benji'_ let you get into his pants?”

 

“Oh no, he punched me when I tried to make a move on him.”

 

“Shit! That explains the bruise. Do you want me to go rough him up?”

 

Ian shook his head.

 

“Nope. It's already been taking care of...”

 

________________

 

Lip asked a few more questions that week-end, but Ian stayed very evasive, he didn't want to share with his brother the tale of Mickey as a knight in shining armor, and he was pretty sure the story would go around the entire school during the week anyway. And, as expected, the redhead met with a very pissed lab partner on Monday morning.

 

“Your boyfriend isn't here to protect you today princess?”

 

“Shut up Benjamin.”

 

“I invited you to the party because I thought you were cool and we could be friends, but I end up being kissed by a dude and punched in the face in the same night. And I'm the asshole! What, you thought I was gonna spill the beans about you dirty little secret? I wasn't going to, but now that I've been assaulted by your pit bull I just might!”

 

“Fuck you!”

 

“Oh yeah? What you gonna do? Send Mickey Milkovich on me again?”

 

“Shut the fuck up Benjamin, I didn't ask him to do that.”

 

“Oh no right, he just wanted to protect his little boyfriend.”

 

“He's not my boyfriend.”

 

“But I'm sure you want him to be.”

 

This time, it was Ian who was about to punch this prick, but the teacher interfered just in time, and – thank god for her – decided to team each boy up with someone else.

 

“That was the guy my brother beat up, right?”

 

Ian turned to look at his new lab partner. A beautiful girl with raven hair, and deep blue eyes, two features very familiar to the redhead. Of course he had been paired up with Mandy Milkovich, Mickey's sister, because that's the kind of shit that happened to Ian!

 

“Yeah.” he mumbled as an answer. “I think so.”

 

“Do you know why he did it? Mickey doesn't fight a lot, but he wouldn't tell me why he attacked this kid. It was so random... I don't even think he knew him...”

 

Ian shrugged.

 

“I don't know.”

 

“Anyway. I'm Mandy. Ian, right?”

 

The redhead returned the smile the girl was sending his way. She looked very nice, maybe working with her wouldn't be so bad after all.

 

________________

 

“Mick, I think I've found the love of my life.” Mandy sighed as she laid like an enamored virgin on her brother's bed that night.

 

“Oh, just that, huh?”

 

“He's gorgeous, with beautiful green, or maybe blue eyes. And so, so nice. But a little shy too...”

 

Mickey sneered and went back to his homework.

 

“What's his name?”

 

“Ian Gallagher. Do you know him?”

 

Mickey stilled.

 

“Vaguely.”

 

“He used to be lab partner with that guy you hit at the party, but they had a heated argument today in class, so the teacher changed the groups, and now he's working with me... He's so dreamy...”

 

“Do you know what they were fighting about?”

 

“Nope. But it's not important, it brought him with me.”

 

Mickey stood up and started to leave the room.

 

“I wouldn't get attached if I were you.”

 

“Where you going?”

 

“Smoke.”

 

“You're not supposed to Mick!”

 

But the boy was already too far to hear her.

 

________________

 

Ian closed his locker, and his heart jumped as his saw Mickey standing there.

 

“Hi.”

 

“Hi Mickey.”

 

“You feelin' better?”

 

“Yeah...”

 

“Good. My sister is in love with you.”

 

“What?”

 

“She has a major crush on you. Are you gonna let her down easy, or play with her? Because you saw what I can do with my fists!”

 

Ian smiled.

 

“I won't play with her I swear. And you're not that impressive, I could probably take you.”

 

“Oh yeah? You wanna bet?”

 

The other boy raised a challenging eyebrow, and stood in a ready-to-punch position. Ian grinned.

 

“I'm not gonna fight with you in the middle of the hallway.”

 

“You're no fun Gallagher.”

 

“You know my name is Ian, right?”

 

Mickey shrugged and began to walk away.

 

“Whatever, I'm still sure I could take you!”

 

Ian didn't even try to hide his smile. Not only he had talked to his crush, but the guy actually came back to him, and joked with him. The redhead really was a lovestruck teenager...

 

“What was that about?”

 

Ian jumped.

 

“Fuck Lip! How long have you been standing there?”

 

His brother shrugged.

 

“You're friend with your little quarterback now? Did you suck his dick?”

 

“Fuck you Lip...”

 

________________

 

Mickey spent the next two weeks thinking about Ian, looking at him, talking to him for a few minutes between classes, and... flirting with him? Sort of. Mickey wasn't really sure how to flirt, but they joked a lot, and smiled to each other a lot. Maybe they were just friends, but Mickey was okay with that. For now.

 

He was casually going through the channels on the TV, half lying on the couch, when Mandy walked in. Followed by a very familiar redheaded boy. Mickey sat up straighter.

 

“Hey. What you're doing here?”

 

“Study group.” Mandy answered, not noticing her brother wasn't actually looking at her.

 

Ian smiled shyly and followed the girl deeper into the house. Mickey stood up and walked after them. He caught Ian's arm just before the boy entered Mandy's room, and dragged him away, trying his best to ignore the chills he felt where Ian's skin was touching his.

 

“You're not dating her, are you?”

 

Ian smiled again and shook his head.

 

“I'm not. I told her... well that I'm not interested, and she was okay with it. We even came up with sort of a deal.”

 

“A deal?”

 

Ian didn't have time to answer that Mandy was coming out of her room.

 

“Why are you stealing my boyfriend Mick?”

 

Mickey dropped his grip on Ian's arm.

 

“Your boyfriend? I thought you said you weren't dating?!”

 

“We're not. She's not really my girlfriend, more like my beard.”

 

Mandy's eyes widened and went from her _'boyfriend'_ to her brother.

 

“You know he's gay?”

 

Mickey nodded, looking away, and scratching the back of his head. Mandy's eyes widened even more, and she smiled brightly.

 

“Ooooh. Okay.”

 

Ian looked between the siblings, obviously loosing something. Mandy just grabbed his hand and showed him to her bedroom.

 

“Come on Ian, we've got work to do.”

 

________________

 

Mickey was in his bedroom when he heard the front door close, and then someone run toward his door. Mandy barged in without knocking.

 

“You're so hot for him!”

 

“Mandy, come on.”

 

“Is that why you punched Benjamin? Ian told me what happened with him, but I didn't make the connection. You are so into him!”

 

Mickey sighed and dropped his head back on his pillow. He suddenly regretted dearly the day he had came out to his family.

 

“I'm not into him.”

 

“You have the biggest crush slash boner I've ever seen! Don't lie to me big brother, I know you.”

 

“He's just my friend Mandy.”

 

Mandy watched her brother for a little longer, enjoying the fact that he was totally lying his ass off. She then smiled, one of those mischievous smiles of hers.

 

“Well it's all the better,” she shrugged. “Because I think he likes someone anyway.”

 

Mickey stayed put, trying his best not to react to the news, but it did hurt him to think about Ian liking some random guy, and even maybe potentially be with that guy.

 

________________

 

Ian hated trigonometry, but Lip had sworn it was important for his future, and that those exercises weren't so difficult. Yet, the redhead had been stuck on the third problem for half an hour now, and it was starting to really piss him off. He decided to take a break and started to put away all of his stuff in his backpack, when someone sat in the chair opposite him at the small table.

 

“Hi Mick. First time I see you in the library.”

 

His friend smiled and grabbed the math book still opened at the page with Ian's exercises.

 

“Shut up. What you're working on?”

 

“Trigonometry. Which I hate. And I suck at it.”

 

Mickey read the page, then examined Ian's notebook.

 

“You mixed up these two results, that's why you're stuck.”

 

Ian looked at what his friend was showing him. He was right, so damn right.

 

“Thank you! I've been on this for half an hour. And I hate you for figuring it out so fast.”

 

Mickey smirked.

 

“No, you don't.”

 

No, he definitely didn't hate him, quite the contrary actually, but it's not like he could actually say it. Maybe Mickey was cool with Ian's sexuality, and ready to punch a guy to defend him, but the redhead didn't want a repeat of what had happened with Benjamin, not because he would be hurt to be rejected, but because he didn't want to loose Mickey, he couldn't loose him, so he'd rather stay his friend than anything else.

 

“So I talked with Mandy...” Mickey started.

 

Ian raised his head very fast.

 

“You did?”

 

He hadn't told the girl he was head over heels for her brother, he had just mentioned a crush, but she seemed so perceptive sometimes that he wasn't sure what she had told Mickey.

 

“Yeah, this whole beard story is good for you I guess, but what if you want to like... date someone?”

 

Ian released the breath he had been holding, and shrugged.

 

“I don't know. I'm not planning on dating anyone anytime soon anyway.”

 

“Really? Isn't that kind of sad?”

 

“Said the guy who never dated anyone.”

 

“That you know of.”

 

Ian's heart tightened.

 

“That I know of...”

 

The two boys looked at each other for a beat. Ian wasn't sure why Mickey was suddenly so interested in his love life, but if his friend wanted to share, maybe he'll share.

 

“Okay, maybe there is someone I like.” the redhead blurted out without even realizing it.

 

“Do I know him?” Mickey asked, looking genuinely interested.

 

Ian shook his head a little too fast.

 

“No. It's someone I met... at work.”

 

The only people he met at work were old ladies buying their groceries and young thugs from the neighborhood trying to steal from the store, not a lot of dating material. Mickey's smile fell just the slightest bit, it was almost imperceptible.

 

“Oh okay. Cool.”

 

And with that the conversation was over. Ian went back to his homework, Mickey helped him for some time, and then left for practice.

 

The conversation didn't come back for the next three weeks, and actually Ian saw less and less of Mickey. The other boy was always busy with football, or out with his teammates and the cheerleaders, or studying for the SATs. So the redhead spent time with Mandy. Mandy and her weird knowing smiles, Mandy who always loved to hear about Ian's crush even though he still wasn't giving her any name, Mandy who was always there for him.

 

________________

 

“Okay shithead, why aren't you hanging out with Ian anymore?”

 

“I don't know what you mean.”

 

Mickey threw his football at his sister, but she caught it before it could hurt her.

 

“For like a month after the party you hung out basically all the time together, or at least that's what I understood from how much Ian was talking about you. But now you're avoiding him or something?”

 

“I'm not avoiding him, I just got stuff to do.”

 

Mandy had had a lot of fun with the situation, both her brother and her friend totally hot for each other without the other realizing it, but now the girl was getting tired of it. She was sick of hearing Ian complain about both his “crush” and about Mickey ignoring him. And she was sick of seeing her brother mulling over the fact that he believed that Ian was into some other guy. She just wanted them to talk it out, or fuck it out, or whatever, as long as she wasn't the middle man anymore!

 

“Just go talk to him...” she sighed before exiting the room to go work on her own problems.

 

________________

 

Mickey found Ian under the bleacher. He knew the other boy used to come here to study – what he didn't know was that Ian had actually chose this place so he could watch Mickey train on the field for hours without being noticed.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Mickey. It's been a while.”

 

“Sorry, had a lot of shit to do.”

 

“Yeah sure.”

 

The redhead wasn't looking at him, keeping his eyes on his school book.

 

“Are you mad at me or something?”

 

Ian sighed and closed his book, before looking up at Mickey.

 

“I don't know. Should I be mad at you? You stopped hanging out with me after our real actual talk about the possibility of me dating a guy, how should I take it? It was fine to be my friend when you could play the hero and punch this asshole of Benjamin Schaffer, but when you realized I wasn't a charity case but just a guy liking other guys you ran away as fast as you could!”

 

“What? No...”

 

“It's okay, I get it. It's not cool for you to have a gay friend, it could hurt your career, or whatever you want to do with your football gig. I'm a liability and we weren't really friends anyway, so whatever...”

 

Mickey watched Ian as he kept rambling about how Mickey hated him for being gay, or whatever he was saying, and at that moment he only saw one thing he could do to shut him up. And maybe it was time anyway, because Mandy was right, he really liked this guy, and he had decided to not let him slip away, no matter what it would mean to his place in the football team. So he grabbed Ian's face and planted a harsh kiss on his lips. When Mickey pulled away, the redhead was looking at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

 

“I'm not ashamed of being your friend.” Mickey finally confessed. “I just couldn't stand the idea of you being with some other guy.”

 

Ian smiled and leaned to kiss Mickey again, softer this time, and with more tongue. They only broke the kiss when they started to really need to breathe. Ian pressed his forehead against Mickey's.

 

“We're both complete idiots, you know that?”

 

“Yeah. I think Mandy told me something like that too...”

 

Ian pecked his lips again, and Mickey realized that he didn't care what his coach or his teammates would think of his sexuality, he would figure it out, even if he had to find another way than football to get into college. As cliché as that sounded, he had Ian now, and that made everything better.

 

________________

 

In movies, the shy nerdy girl and the popular quarterback usually share their first kiss in a middle of a sheering crowd. Ian shared his first kiss with his own quarterback under the bleachers where nobody could see them. Real life isn't a movie, but sometimes it does feel like it, even if it's just for a little while.

 

**Author's Note:**

> It felt so weird to have the beginning of my fic mostly canon, I'm not used to it ^_^
> 
> Also nobody knows how many siblings Mickey actually has, so I based my choices here on what we can guess from the show and on what other people have written in fics.
> 
>  
> 
> Please leave kudos and/or comments. And you can send me prompts here, or on my [tumblr](http://ilostmylifeonline.tumblr.com/), and I'll write them... sooner or later. ;)


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